SEAWISE BOATING EDUCATION

About Us

We offer internationally-recognised maritime training and preparation along with associated services with personalised tuition for recreational and professional industry certification.

Our Sea Survival courses are endorsed by ISAF and Yachting New Zealand. We utilise an indoor wave pool to provide a controlled environment for lifejacket/liferaft wet drills to help simulate conditions.
SWNZ has been operating since 2003, we provide a variety of marine qualification preparation, along with professional boat and project management. Preparation includes one-one-one or small group tuition and safety tuition using boat-specific safety equipment.
SWBENZ is based in Auckland, which gives easy access to the Waitemata Harbour, Weshaven Marina and Hauraki Gulf. However, we do offer nation-wide tuition, tailored to your requirements

OUR TEAM

Al Gwyer

Principal Tutor

Al has had over 15 years of commercial marine experience. He holds RYA Instructor qualifications up to the level of Yacht Master Offshore for both Sail and Power.

Testimonials

Mike Lanigan

RYA Yachtmaster Tutor / Gulf Wind Sailing

I found it very good for revision, learnt a lot of new techniques plus what is new on the market for sea survival equipment.
The ‘pool session’ was very informative and again learnt some very good techniques.
When the raft did not deploy my heart went racing as if it was the real thing. I will remember that moment and then what we did next.

Jo And Robbie Ashton

Nordhaven Offshore Motor Boat

Just wanted to say thank you very much for everything you did for us. We both felt the training you provided was superb, and we are really pleased we did it. We would certainly recommend you.

Christiaan Arns

Owner & skipper Notorious / Beneteau First 44.7

Thanks for holding the course yesterday. It was very informative and I really enjoyed the fact that it was aimed at skippers/ crew that have significant yachting experience. Due to the combination of people and your natural ability to communicate with a group, we ended up with a high level of information flow and consequently benefited significantly from your course,

Don Salthouse

Salthouse Marine Brokers

That was a very well run and helpful training session which has completely changed my thinking in a number of areas.
I particularly benefitted from viewing the video footage of major rescues and disasters but best of all was the practical demonstrations and tests you put us through today in the wave pool.
This is seriously a must do course for any boatie venturing out to sea off New Zealand’s coast.

Phil Van Der Mespel

Attendee Review

Phil Van Der Mespel

As you know, via my earlier correspondence, I wasn’t too keen on spending yet more time and money to ‘tick the boxes’ to sail offshore; yet here I now find myself telling friends and family what a wonderful day I had on Wednesday!
Similar to Scott Hollingshead, I found your approach very encouraging. You have adapted the course material to be task specific in that you focus on what it is really like out there and what to do when things go awry. This whole topic of sea survival in massive and has been discussed for thousands of years; at least now we take most of the superstition out of it and see it as it is!
I learnt so much, thank you. As you know I am no newbie at offshore sailing, and love it. I have been in some big blows where, sadly, some have not survived. Now I am sure that should I be in similar circumstances again, I will have far more understanding of survival strategies and confidence to carry them out. I had never been inside a lift-raft, and I would like to keep it that way, except for training, but I should I need one in anger I have confidence to stay in it, right it if it rolls, and make sure the crew can better their life and comfort until rescue.
I’m sure you get messages like this all the time, but be assured they are genuine because what you are doing is likely to save lives.

Aaron Pratley 2017

Awesome.
I really enjoyed the course. It was a fantastic pool session. Loved the hosing down, it gave a good sense of what is in store should it go bad. Invaluable motor skills and memory training . Thanks again , will recommend to anyone wanting to get certified.
Cheers again Aaron.

Carol Clarke

Al
"A well presented course that was both informative and relevant. The pool session was fantastic. Don't go offshore without doing this course with Al. Worth every cent."
Carol Clarke
Thanks Al.
Regards
Carol

Phil Van Der Mespel Rescue Letter.

Live Rescue

Hi Alan
Since my rescue last Saturday, and now that I am safely back in New Zealand, I am thinking of everyone that contributed to saving my life; you are very much at the top of the list!
What I can say is because of the information and practical advice and training I received through your course I managed to keep a level head and not panic, in fact I have no doubt that your training actually saved my life!
Once I realised an abandon was imminent I stopped. I consciously decided not to let the adrenaline take over but made myself think logically, relationally and cohesively. I worked through what I had remembered directly from your training course. Once I’d deployed the raft and loaded it with the grab-bag, I went through the yacht carefully loading extra water, food, duvets, pillows, the satchel with boat papers, wallet and passport, into the raft. I monitored the rapid water ingress and used the time to load everything I would think necessary for a 3-5 day sojourn aboard the life-raft. With about 300-400mm of freeboard, between the aft deck and the ocean I decided it was time to go. Once aboard I quickly put some gear around to give myself space. Then I grabbed my phone/camera to get a shot of the sinking. I turned and there was nothing there, she had gone. Incredibly fast, a 2-3 minute window or I would have been in the water! I took a seasick tablet, good training, though at no time did I feel nauseous. Over the next hours we were really heavily knocked about by huge breaking rollers. My guess had been 6-7m swells and this was confirmed once aboard the ship.
The purpose of this message was essentially to thank you for the training, which I am sure was instrumental to saving my life.
Warmest regards,
Phil

Latest news

Hi Al. Just wanted to say how much I enjoyed the course, I learnt a massive amount. Most importantly I thought all the stuff we did in the pool was really good like using your gear as a floatation device, as a result of that, there where very few times I left the companionway without my[…]

Hi Al Thank you for the ISAF ASSC. I found it very good for revision, learnt a lot of new techniques plus what is new on the market for sea survival equipment. The ‘pool session’ was very informative and again learnt some very good techniques. When the raft did not deploy my heart went racing[…]

Hi Al Just wanted to say thank you very much for everything you did for us. We both felt the training you provided was superb, and we are really pleased we did it. We would certainly recommend you and if you ever need a reference we are happy to do that. Thanks again Regards Jo[…]

Hi Al, thanks for holding the course yesterday. It was very informative and I really enjoyed the fact that it was aimed at skippers/ crew that have significant yachting experience. Due to the combination of people and your natural ability to communicate with a group, we ended up with a high level of information flow[…]

Hi Al, That was a very well run and helpful training session which has completely changed my thinking in a number of areas. I particularly benefitted from viewing the video footage of major rescues and disasters but best of all was the practical demonstrations and tests you put us through today in the wave pool.[…]

I talked with Al Gwyer today regarding his SAS course. Having been involved in these courses in USA and Europe, Al Gwyer runs the most up to date and relevant course for racing yachts and the situations we can see. I would like to bring down our owner and his Hong Kong friends that sail on[…]

I attended a course he held a couple of months ago and was very impressed with his presentation and no nonsense practical approach to each subject covered. I thought I had a pretty good grasp of the basics having done my time in a number of severe storms, been rescued in one and have been[…]

Carl Webster posted the following on preparation of his successful exam result. Try Al Gwyer, Just completed mine through him and was a awesome experience, would recommend him for your Yacht Master any day!

A week with Al In preparation for our sea voyage back home, we decide to sign up for a few courses while back in NZ. Gary had decided to sit his RYA Commercial Skippers ticket that enables him to skipper boats up to 200 tonne. He already had all the prerequisites, so all he needed was a[…]